Ian Tancun | ColumnistI think one can be considered “independent” when they no longer rely on their parents or family for financial support. I believe financial support is different from financial assistance. When I say financial support, I mean relying...

Faith MellenthinColumnistMicrosoft Outlook is easy to use, but the transition from Gmail has not been smooth. As an avid user of Gmail, I was very surprised Outlook is so user friendly. With a single login, I can access all Microsoft Office downloads...

Program prioritization task force reports that recommended how resources should be allocated to 459 academic and administrative programs were released Monday. NIU requested that students and faculty provide feedback from now until May 23.Kaylyn ZielinskiColumnistAll...

Kaylyn ZielinskiColumnistThe university should have waited until the program prioritization reports were released to have the town hall meeting because the meeting did not provide any new or vital information.The meeting did not address the programs that...

Abigail ZaccariaColumnistI feel NIU handled the network outage well. The university let students know that they were working to fix the problem and kept them posted throughout the outage. A notification was sent out once the Wi-Fi came back on.Network...

The FBI has requested Apple create software meant to help unlock an iPhone in connection with a terrorism attack that occurred in December in which 14 people were killed in San Bernadino, Calif. Apple refuses to create this software and the FBI plans...

Abby ZaccariaColumnistI think the unlawful assemblies ordinance should be passed in order to protect the community and encourage peaceful protests.The ordinance makes it a violation of city code for a person to fail to obey a command of a sworn peace...

Angela PaganPerspective EditorMany state funded-programs are not reliable due to the budget impasse, and MAP grants are included in the mix.Recently, an email sent to MAP grant recipients said NIU will continue to credit students this grant although the...

Angela PaganI would like to see DeKalb become more of a real college town within the next 10 years.The city should to continue to open up more student-friendly businesses, such as specialty shops and coffee shops with open mic nights. I recently met a...

Angela PaganIn regards to transparency with program prioritization I would give NIU a C+.I feel when the program started there was an intention to be clear about how this process would improve NIU overall; however as the process has gone on getting more...

Mohammed Taha FaridiI always thought MyNIU should have a smartphone app.The app functions well: You can do all the work you did on the MyNIU website. It’s simple and easy to use. It’s also a relief for iPhone and Android users who can now do more...